How much of the Mexican agricultural supply is produced by small farms, and how?

The contribution of small farms to the global food supply is in debate due to lack of empirical evidence. In Mexico, small farms have been relatively important for national food supply due to an agrarian reform in the first half of the 20th century, but their role has been decreasing in the last decades. The aim of this study is to quantify how much small farms produce of the Mexican agricultural supply, and with which farming practices, using the 2019 National Agricultural Survey. The results show that small farms produce 19% of the national agricultural production with similar farming practices to those of medium and large farms. When considering imports and exports, small farms produce 15% of the national agricultural supply. The production of small farms consists mainly of cash crops (e.g. sugar cane, fruits & vegetables, animal products, fodder crops) and, to a lesser extent, staple crops such as maize and beans. The fact that small farms produce one fifth of the national production after decades of governmental support towards large farms suggests that they have resilient production systems. The results of this study support that stronger efforts should be made to enhance the role of small farms in achieving Mexican food sovereignty. This will not only have benefits in terms of food supply but may also have a wide range of social and environmental benefits.


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Additional data availability information: Tick here if the URLs/accession numbers/DOIs will be available only after acceptance of the manuscript for publication so that we can ensure their inclusion before publication. argue that small farms (<5ha) in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and South and East Asia "are 81 responsible for more than half of the food calories produced globally, as well as more than half of 82 global production of several major food crops". A common conclusion of these studies is that 83 further research is needed to quantify the role of small farms to the food supply of different 84 regions. 85

86
To partially address this research gap, in this study, we quantify the contribution of small farms 87 to Mexico's food supply. Mexico has a large diversity of farms in terms of size, socioeconomic, 88 cultural, technological, and production characteristics (FAO, 2018;de Ita, 2014;Schejtman, 1982;89 Yunez et al., 2013). Mexican studies on rurality have traditionally distinguished two large 90 categories of farms: peasants and business farms (Schejtman, 1982;Toledo et al., 2002; de Ita, 91 2014). Peasants (or small farmers) are usually defined as those that farm less than 2 ha or 5 ha of 92 cropland, and as having specific characteristics such as consuming part of their production, 93 relying on family labour, using few or no external inputs (such as inorganic fertilisers or 94 pesticides), and having a low income (Schejtman, 1982;Toledo et al., 2002, de Ita, 2014. were: small (< 50 cattle heads or equivalent), medium (50 -300 cattle heads or equivalent), and 106 large (>300 cattle heads or equivalent). Toledo et al (2002) used a socioecological analysis to 107 define an index composed of nine indicators to describe a farm, or any territorial unit in terms of 108 agriculture type. The typology moves along a scale that goes from peasant to agroindustrial 109 agriculture. The nine criteria used in their analysis are: energy, scale, self-sufficiency, labour 110 (family vs salaried), diversity of crops, labour productivity, energy productivity, type of 111 knowledge used, and cosmovision. For Toledo et al. (2022), farms practising rainfed agriculture on 112 less than 5 hectares are peasant and larger farms or with irrigation no matter the size are 113 agroindustrial. For Yunez et al. (2013), a family farm is one that uses more than 50% of family 114 labour. They also separate specialised family farms, when more than 50% of the income comes 115 from farming, and pluriactivity family farms, when farming income is less than 50%. Mexico's agrarian reform following the Mexican revolution in 1910 distributed almost half of the 132 country's land as communal land (ejidos) to small farmers (Sanchez, 2003). With this, land tenure 133 was recognized to indigenous communities resulting in (1) peasant's food production as the basis 134 of the national production, and (2) preserving traditional practices (Sánchez, 2003), unlike other 135 Latin American countries which did not have extended agrarian reform and are characterised by 136 unequal land distribution (Kay, 1999). However, this tradition of peasant farming and small farms 137 has been displaced, to a certain extent, by the green revolution of the second half of the twentieth 138 century (de Gortari Rabiela, 2020) and more recently by the impacts of the North American Free 139 Trade Agreement (González, 2006). Since the 1990's, Mexican neoliberal reforms have focused 140 on supporting large-scale and agroindustrial agriculture, thus displacing small farmers (de Ita, 141 2014). The federal government has recently started to revert this trend, with governmental 142 programs supporting small farmers with technical and financial resources as a double strategy to 143 reach national food sovereignty and to alleviate rural poverty (DOF, 2020; SADER, 2017). This 144 strategy could be enhanced by robust and recent studies that analyze the characteristics of small 145 farms, including their agricultural practices and the share of their production in the Mexican food 146 supply to discuss their potential role, and changes needed, to reach Mexican food sovereignty. 147

148
The aim of this study is to quantify how much of the agricultural supply in Mexico is produced by 149 small farms, and to analyse the farming practices used to produce it. To do this, we answer the 150 following research questions: (1) How much of the agricultural food products are produced in 151 Mexico by farms of different sizes? (2) What farming practices are used by farms of different 152 sizes? (3) How much of the agricultural supply is produced by small farmers? With this, we 153 discuss the role of small farmers for food sovereignty, and some implications of their use of different 154 farming practices. The insights of this paper can be used to design agricultural programs to support 155 small farmers as a means to reach national food sovereignty. 156

173
The Mexican agricultural production is the starting point of the analysis. It is defined as the total 174 amount of agricultural products (crops and animal products) that Mexican farms produce (step 175 1). The criteria to categorise the type of farm are the area of cropland and the number of animals 176 (Table 1) including the individual responses of each respondent). This dataset is not publicly available to 202 ensure confidentiality for the respondents. Access to process and analyse the microdata was 203 granted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) through its Laboratory of 204 Microdata for research purposes. 205 The survey presents data for the 29 major agricultural products (Table 2). These 29 products, 206 which are those considered in this study, account for 87% of the Mexican agricultural production 207 and 84% of the Mexican domestic supply in 2019 (Appendix 1, data from FAO (2022a, 2022b, 208 2022c) ). 209 210

Crop farms 223
For farms that produce crops, each respondent reports the production and cultivated area per 224 crop , taking into account crops intended to be sold on the market, those kept as seeds for the next 225 season, those used for feed, and those intended for home consumption. Farms with open 226 agriculture (unlike those practising protected agriculture) report the share of their production 227 that is dedicated to each use; this data is presented in Appendix 2. 228 Using the sampling weights, these values are aggregated by crop and type of farm using the 229 "collapse (sum)" function of STATA software. The results are shown in Table 3. 230 231

Livestock farms 232
As part of the survey, each respondent reported the number of animals on the farm and its 233 production purpose (e.g. beef cows, laying hens, milking cows). We used this data, and its 234 associated sampling weights to estimate the annual animal products production in each type of 235 farm as follows.  Table 3. 245

246
For beef production, we included beef cows and half of the "dual" animals (milk and beef 247 producing cows). For milk production, we included the milking cows and half of the "dual" 248 animals. For pig production, we considered all pigs reported by each farm (any age). The sample 249 for poultry production farms is a deterministic sample which does not come with sampling 250 weights, which means that the total national values cannot be quantified. To address this, we used 251 the distribution of these farms among the small-, medium-, and large-scale farms to estimate the 252 national distribution of these farms. The sample of the poultry production farms represent 90% 253 of the national production of eggs and chicken meat (source: personal communication with the 254 staff of the National Agricultural Surveys of INEGI). To estimate the poultry meat production, we 255 considered growing chickens, and for egg production, we considered the hens reported by each 256 farm. 257 258

Farming practices 259
Each respondent reported whether they used an irrigated or rainfed system, applied inorganic 260 fertilizers and/or organic fertilizers, and the type of seed used. conditions are optimal), (3) certified or registered, (4) genetically modified. We grouped the 266 improved, certified or registered, and the genetically modified seeds as "commercial seeds", and 267 the landrace or farm saved seeds as "non commercial seeds". These data were used to define four are not reported in the survey, so these farms were not considered in the analysis. This analysis 271 also excluded animal products; but by including fodder crops, we considered these products 272 indirectly. The answers of all respondents were aggregated per type of farm and type of farming 273 practice, using sampling weights, with the "collapse (sum)" function of STATA software. The 274 results are shown in Figure 2. 275

Agricultural supply 276
Finally, to calculate the agricultural supply, we quantified the exports and imports of the 29 277 agricultural products included in this study (Appendix 3). The exports were subtracted equally 278 for all types of farms from the national production, and the imports were added as a new category 279 making up the domestic supply ( Figure 1, step 3). With this, we calculated how much of the 280 agricultural supply is produced by small farms, farms of other sizes, or obtained from imports.

Agricultural production in Mexico by type of farm 286
Most of the food produced in Mexico (64%) comes from large farms (Table 3). Small farms 287 produce 19%, medium-scale farms produce 33%, and protected agriculture produce 2% of the 288 Mexican agricultural production. The share of the production of each type of agricultural product 289 is also different among the four types of farms (Appendix 4). Almost half of the white maize (the 290 main food product in the Mexican diet) is produced by large-scale farms, and 17% is produced by 291 small farms. Beans, also one of the main food products of the Mexican diet, are mainly produced 292 by large-scale farms, followed by medium farms, while small farms produce 6% of the national 293 production. Vegetables are mainly produced by large-scale farms, followed by protected 294 agriculture farms (the latter producing almost exclusively vegetables). Animal products and 295 fodder crops are also mostly produced by large-scale farms (68% and 62%), followed by medium-296 scale farms (18% and 27%), and by small-scale farms (14% and 16%). 297 298 Even though small-scale farms produce a relatively small share of the national production, they 299 account for the largest share of farms (57% of crop farms, 78% of cattle farms, 89% of pig farms, 300 and 96% of poultry farms) (Table 3). This difference in the number of farms of different sizes and 301 their total production can be explained by the fact that the average production per farm is much 302 higher in large scale farms, followed by medium-and small-scale farms (see 4th row in Table 3). 303 Large-scale farms' average production is ten times higher than small-scale farms for crops, 70 304 times higher for cattle farms, and 2000 times higher for pig farms. However, the average crop 305 yield is similar among the three types of farms (Table 3). Protected agriculture, on the other hand, 306 boasts yields ten times higher than all other farms -this can be explained by the fact that it 307 produces almost exclusively vegetables, which yields are higher than for other types of crops 308 (such as cereals). 309 310

314
The production values presented in Table 3 include products that are sold by farmers as well as 315 those intended for other uses (animal feed, seeds and home consumption). Only 6%, 4% and 9 316 % of the production is not sold by farmers, for small-, medium and large-scale farms 317 respectively (Appendix 4). This percentage diverges among food crops. For instance, less than 318 90% of maize, beans, and alfalfa are sold -across all farm types. This means that the tree type of 319 farms use a similar share of their production of these crops for food, feed and seeds. 320 321

Farming practices used in the production 322
Farming practices are similar across the three types of farms ( Figure 2). Over 90% of farms of 323 any size use inorganic fertilizers. Less than a quarter of farms (of any size) use organic 324 fertilizers. This means that most crops are produced with inorganic fertilizers and without 325 organic fertilizers across all farm sizes. The use of irrigation systems shows a different pattern. 326 It is mostly used by large-scale farms (66%) but is also commonly used by small-and medium-327 scale farms (53% and 47% respectively). Most farms failed to report the type of seeds they use (see grey values in Figure 2). Only 23%, 335 32% and 52% of the small-, medium, and large-scale farms, respectively, reported the type of 336 seed used. Therefore, more data is needed to discuss the distribution of the type of seeds among 337 small-, medium-, and large scale farms. (2022b). The data plotted in this graph can be found in Table A5, Appendix 4, and in the 355 Supplementary Information. 356 357 Different food products are sourced in different ways (Table 4). For instance, wheat, rice, animal 370 feed, and cocoa are the food categories where imports represent more than half of the domestic 371 supply. For these categories, the difference between the production of small-, medium-, and 372 large-scale farms appears to be relatively less important when imports are considered. Only 373 0.2%, 1%, and 6% of the domestic supply of wheat, rice, and animal feed, respectively, is 374 produced by small farmers. 375 The food products that are most largely produced by small farms (at least 20% of the domestic 376 supply), in comparison with the other farms or imports, are amaranth (68%), avocado (22%), 377 mango (20%), alfalfa (28%), milk (20%), beef (26%), sugar cane (27%), cocoa (22%), and coffee 378 (29%). Al these products are considered "cash crops" or "commercial crops", animal products or 379 animal feed. None of them are staple foods. Also, production by small-scale farms never exceeds 380 30% of the national supply, apart from amaranth, but its production accounts to only 5.4 381 thousand tonnes in 2019, which is only 0.003 % of the total agricultural supply. contrast, the agricultural products that small farms most produce are "commercial" or "cash 407 crops": coffee and cocoa, sugar cane, followed by animal products, fruits, animal feed, and white 408 maize; with only 16% of white maize being produced by small-scale farms (Table 4). share of the production relies on organic fertilizers. However, these findings must be 414 corroborated and expanded through further research. In this analysis, we only considered a 415 dichotomous characterisation of farming practices (whether farms use a certain agricultural 416 input or not). But differences may exist in the amount or degree of use among the farms. For 417 instance, small farms may use a smaller amount of fertilizer and irrigation than large scale farms. 418 These differences must be quantified in a further study. In addition, the use of non-commercial 419 seed has several social, cultural and agrobiodiversity implications. Efforts have been made to 420 preserve diversity in Mexican seeds, particularly for native maize varieties which are preserved 421 mostly by small farmers (Ortega, 2021). Unfortunately, as most farms fail to report the type of 422 seed they use, our study does not allow us to draw conclusions regarding the prevalence of the 423 use of commercial seeds in Mexican farms. Further research is hence needed to identify the type 424 of seeds used in Mexican agricultural production to enable discussions on the related 425 agrobiodiversity, cultural and political implications of the use of different seeds. Farming and the geography of nutrient production for human use: a transdisciplinary analysis. 528 The Lancet Planetary Health, 1(1), e33-e42. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196 (17)  agricultural production values (data of "crops primary" and "livestock primary"), and FAO 653 Appendix 2. Market and non-market production by each type of farm and each type of crop. 667 Calculations by the authors using INEGI (2019a) 668 669 The following tables show the share (per farm and crop) of the production and the total 670 production in tons that was sold ("market") and not sold ("no market") by the farms. The "no 671 market" production includes the seeds that farms use for the following farming season, the food 672 used for home consumption, and the feed used for livestock. The details of the share and 673 production for seeds, food and feed, as well as the values with decimal points, are shown in the 674 Supplementary Information. 675 676 Table A3. Total production of no market and market production produced by each type of farm 677 and and type of agricultural products used in each data source. For this reason, for this study we 694 calculated a "ratio value" of exports and imports using FAO data (table A4). This ratio was used 695 to calculate the exports and imports for the 29 food groups of this study.  The contribution of small farms to the global food supply is in debate due to lack of empirical 31 evidence. In Mexico, small farms have been relatively important for national food supply due to 32 an agrarian reform in the first half of the 20 th century, but their role has been decreasing in the 33 last decades. The aim of this study is to quantify how much small farms produce of the Mexican argue that small farms (<5ha) in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and South and East Asia "are 81 responsible for more than half of the food calories produced globally, as well as more than half of 82 global production of several major food crops". A common conclusion of these studies is that

System description and analytical steps 160
[3] The system of this paper is composed of two elements (agricultural production and 161 agricultural supply), which are analysed in three separate steps: type of farm, farming practices, 162 and origin of supply (Figure 1). 163

Protected agriculture
Farms that use protection technologies (microtunnels or greenhouses) to produce crops.

174
The Mexican agricultural production is the starting point of the analysis. It is defined as the total 175 amount of agricultural products (crops and animal products) that Mexican farms produce (step 176 1). The criteria to categorise the type of farm are the area of cropland and the number of animals 177 (Table 1)  The survey presents data for the 29 major agricultural products (Table 2). These 29 products, 208 which are those considered in this study, account for 87% of the Mexican agricultural production 209 and 84% of the Mexican domestic supply in 2019 (Appendix 1, data from FAO (2022a, 2022b, 210 2022c) ). 211 212  see Table 1. The survey does not assign strata for poultry production; therefore the selection was 220 based on expert knowledge (González-Cerón, 2022). Farms with open agriculture (unlike those practising protected agriculture) report the share of 228 their production that is dedicated to each use; this data is presented in Appendix 2. 229 Using the sampling weights, these values are aggregated by crop and type of farm using the 230 "collapse (sum)" function of STATA software. The results are shown in Table 3. 231

[1]& [3] Livestock farms 233
As part of the survey, each respondent reported the number of animals on the farm and its 234 production purpose (e.g. [9] beef cows, laying hens, milking cows). We used this data, and its 235 associated sampling weights to estimate the annual animal products production in each type of 236 farm as follows.  Table 3. 246

247
For beef production, we included [9] beef cows and half of the "dual" animals ([9] milk and beef 248 producing cows). For milk production, we included the milking cows and half of the "dual" 249 animals. For pig production, we considered all pigs reported by each farm (any age).

Agricultural production in Mexico by type of farm 289
Most of the food produced in Mexico (64%) comes from large farms (Table 3). Small farms 290 produce 19%, medium-scale farms produce 33%, and protected agriculture produce 2% of the 291 Mexican agricultural production. The share of the production of each type of agricultural product 292 is also different among the four types of [12] farms (Appendix 4). Almost half of the white maize 293 (the main food product in the Mexican diet) is produced by large-scale farms, and 17% is 294 produced by small farms. Beans, also one of the main food products of the Mexican diet, are 295 mainly produced by large-scale farms, followed by medium farms, while small farms produce 6% 296 of the national production. Vegetables are mainly produced by large-scale farms, followed by 297 protected agriculture farms (the latter producing almost exclusively vegetables). Animal 298 products and [12] fodder crops are also mostly produced by large-scale farms (68% and 62%), 299 followed by medium-scale farms (18% and 27%), and by small-scale farms (14% and 16%). 300 Even though small-scale farms produce a relatively small share of the national production, they 301 account for the largest share of farms (57% of crop farms, 78% of [12] cattle farms, 89% of pig 302 farms, and 96% of poultry farms) (Table 3). This difference in the number of farms of different 303 sizes and their total production can be explained by the fact that the average production per farm 304 is much higher in large scale farms, followed by medium-and small-scale farms (see 4th row in 305 Table 3). Large-scale farms' average production is ten times higher than small-scale farms for 306 crops, 70 times higher for [12] cattle farms, and 2000 times higher for pig farms. However, the 307 average crop yield is similar among the three types of farms (Table 3). Protected agriculture, on 308 the other hand, boasts yields ten times higher than all other farms -this can be explained by the 309 fact that it produces almost exclusively vegetables, which yields are higher than for other types 310 of crops (such as cereals). 311 312

316
[22] The production values presented in Table 3 include products that are sold by farmers as 317 well as those intended for other uses (animal feed, seeds and home consumption). Only 6%, 4% 318 and 9 % of the production is not sold by farmers, for small-, medium and large-scale farms 319 respectively (Appendix 4). This percentage diverges among food crops. For instance, less than 320 90% of maize, beans, and alfalfa are sold -across all farm types. This means that the tree type of 321 farms use a similar share of their production of these crops for food, feed and seeds. 322 Most farms failed to report the type of seeds they use (see grey values in Figure 2). Only 23%, 337 32% and 52% of the small-, medium, and large-scale farms, respectively, reported the type of 338 seed used. Therefore, more data is needed to discuss the distribution of the type of seeds among 339 small-, medium-, and large scale farms. (2022b).
[23] The data plotted in this graph can be found in Table A5, Appendix 4, and in the 356 Supplementary Information. 357 358  Different food products are sourced in different ways (Table 4). For instance, wheat, rice, animal 372 feed, and cocoa are the food categories where imports represent more than half of the domestic 373 supply. For these categories, the difference between the production of small-, medium-, and 374 large-scale farms appears to be relatively less important when imports are considered. Only 375 0.2%, 1%, and 6% of the domestic supply of wheat, rice, and animal feed, respectively, is 376 produced by small farmers. 377 The food products that are most largely produced by small farms (at least 20% of the domestic 378 supply), in comparison with the other farms or imports, are amaranth (68%), avocado (22%), 379 mango (20%), alfalfa (28%), milk (20%), beef (26%), sugar cane (27%), cocoa (22%), and coffee 380 (29%). Al these products are considered "cash crops" or "commercial crops", animal products or 381 animal feed. None of them are staple foods. Also, production by small-scale farms never exceeds 382 30% of the national supply, apart from amaranth, but its production accounts to only 5.4 383 thousand tonnes in 2019, which is only 0.003 % of the total agricultural supply. (cereals, roots and tubers, pulses) and fruits, and large scale farms produce oil crops, vegetables, 406 and other crops. However, we found a different pattern for the Mexican case. The main staple food 407 crops for Mexican diets (white maize and beans) are mainly produced by large-scale farms. In 408 contrast, the agricultural products that small farms most produce are "commercial" or "cash 409 crops": coffee and cocoa, sugar cane, followed by animal products, fruits, animal feed, and white 410 maize; with only 16% of white maize being produced by small-scale farms (Table 4). share of the production relies on organic fertilizers. However, these findings must be 416 corroborated and expanded through further research. In this analysis, we only considered a 417 dichotomous characterisation of farming practices (whether farms use a certain agricultural 418 input or not). But differences may exist in the amount or degree of use among the farms. For 419 instance, small farms may use a smaller amount of fertilizer and irrigation than large scale farms. 420 These differences must be quantified in a further study. In addition, the use of non-commercial 421 seed has several social, cultural and agrobiodiversity implications. Efforts have been made to 422 preserve diversity in Mexican seeds, particularly for native maize varieties which are preserved 423 mostly by small farmers (Ortega, 2021). Unfortunately, as most farms fail to report the type of 424 seed they use, our study does not allow us to [18] draw conclusions regarding the prevalence of 425 the use of commercial seeds in Mexican farms. Further research is hence needed to identify the 426 type of seeds used in Mexican agricultural production to enable discussions on the related 427 agrobiodiversity, cultural and political implications of the use of different seeds. agricultural production values (data of "crops primary" and "livestock primary"), and FAO Appendix 3. Imports and exports of agricultural products estimated for this study. Calculations 696 by the authors using INEGI (2019a) and FAO (2022b).

698
The FAO gives data of exports and imports (FAO, 2022b) and production values (FAO, 2022c) of 699 all primary products. The values of production (FAO, 2022c) are slightly different from the 700 values reported by the INEGI (2019a) (values of this paper) due to differences in methodology 701 and type of agricultural products used in each data source. For this reason, for this study we 702 calculated a "ratio value" of exports and imports using FAO data (table A4). This ratio was used 703 to calculate the exports and imports for the 29 food groups of this study.